Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
What is PPC advertising?
"PPC" or "Pay per Click" ads are the sponsored links seen at the top and down the right-hand side of many search engine pages, and on advertising networks and some content web sites, such as blogs.Such ads are normally identified as being "sponsored", separating them from the "organic" (natural - i.e. not PPC) web site search results seen on the rest of the page.
Top organic web site positioning results will often have been attained via search engine optimisation techniques. However, success in organic search results takes into account all sorts of things, such as the usefulness of a web site and the way it was constructed etc. and this should all be part of the optimisation process.
There are always exceptions, but nowadays search engines are less likely to give high priority to web sites that are irrelevant, lacking in useful content, out-of-date, badly-built and "spammy" etc.
When is PPC advertising used?
PPC advertising is a useful tool for web sites that are new and not yet listed in search engines, for those that are not appearing in the first couple of pages of results, or where you need to 'top up' your search engine ranking, as it were.
Also for those that have a web site that will most likely never achieve a decent search engine ranking, perhaps due to the fact that the site has been badly built, but it is not cost-effective or desirable to rebuild it at that time.
PPC is also used where competition is fierce to get to the top in organic search engine listings, e.g. holiday cottages.
Where there is intense competition, getting your web site to the top (or near to the top) of search engines naturally might or might not be achieved in the long-term, but in the meantime sponsored ads are one of the best ways to make sure your business is noticed.
How does PPC work?
PPC ads are triggered by a user's search words. In other words, advertisers "bid" on keyword phrases which are relevant to their target market.
The placement of their ad on the search results page depends, amongst other things, on the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a 'click through' to their site.
In reality, advertisers only get charged by the search engine when a user clicks on their advertisement and they are able to set a maximum daily budget. When that budget runs out, their ads will disappear until the next day.
Contact us now to find out more about how pay per click could help your business, or visit our 'sister' site, M35 Design, to see a Pay Per Click case study [link opens in a new window].
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